19-letter words containing u, p, a, r, o
- open-hearth furnace — a process of steelmaking in which the charge is laid in a furnace (open-hearth furnace) on a shallow hearth and heated directly by burning gas as well as radiatively by the furnace walls.
- optical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
- ordnance survey map — An Ordnance Survey map is a detailed map produced by the British or Irish government map-making organization.
- orthopaedic surgeon — a surgeon specializing in the branch of surgery concerned with disorders of the spine and joints and the repair of deformities of these parts
- orthopaedic surgery — surgery concerned with disorders of the spine and joints and the repair of deformities of these parts
- parametric equation — one of two or more equations expressing the location of a point on a curve or surface by determining each coordinate separately.
- particular solution — a solution of a differential equation containing no arbitrary constants.
- party-column ballot — Indiana ballot.
- pastoral counseling — the use of psychotherapeutic techniques by trained members of the clergy to assist parishioners who seek help for personal or emotional problems.
- paumotu archipelago — Tuamotu Archipelago.
- penecontemporaneous — formed during or shortly after the formation of the containing rock stratum: penecontemporaneous minerals.
- performance figures — the statistics that indicate how well or badly a company or organization has performed
- peroxysulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- perpetual adoration — uninterrupted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
- perpetual inventory — a form of stock control in which running records are kept of all acquisitions and disposals
- phenanthrenequinone — a yellowish-orange, crystalline, water-insoluble solid, C 1 4 H 8 O 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis and the manufacture of dyes.
- pillars of hercules — the two promontories at the E end of the Strait of Gibraltar: the Rock of Gibraltar on the European side and the Jebel Musa on the African side; according to legend, formed by Hercules
- pneumoencephalogram — an encephalogram made after the replacement of the cerebrospinal fluid by air or gas, rarely used since the development of the CAT scanner.
- pneumogastric nerve — the vagus nerve.
- poincare conjecture — Mathematics. the question of whether a compact, simply connected three-dimensional manifold is topologically equivalent to a three-dimensional sphere.
- pointe-aux-trembles — a city in S Quebec, in E Canada, N of Montreal, on the St. Lawrence.
- police headquarters — building where police are stationed
- popular sovereignty — the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.
- population pressure — the force exerted by a growing population upon its environment, resulting in dispersal or reduction of the population.
- portuguese-speaking — being a speaker of Portuguese; having Portuguese as the national language
- posterior pituitary — a small, somewhat cherry-shaped double structure attached by a stalk to the base of the brain and constituting the master endocrine gland affecting all hormonal functions in the body, consisting of an anterior region ((anterior pituitary) or (adenohypophysis)) that develops embryonically from the roof of the mouth and that secretes growth hormone, LH, FSH, ACTH, TSH, and MSH, a posterior region ((posterior pituitary) or (neurohypophysis)) that develops from the back of the forebrain and that secretes the hormones vasopressin and oxytocin, and an intermediate part (pars intermedia) derived from the anterior region but joined to the posterior region, that secretes the hormone MSH in lower vertebrates.
- potassium carbonate — a white, granular, water-soluble powder, K 2 CO 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, glass, and potassium salts.
- potassium hydroxide — a white, deliquescent, water-soluble solid, KOH, usually in the form of lumps, sticks, or pellets, that upon solution in water generates heat: used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, as a laboratory reagent, and as a caustic.
- preproduction trial — a trial to test a prototype of a product before the product goes into full-scale production
- presumption of fact — a presumption based on experience or knowledge of the relationship between a known fact and a fact inferred from it.
- prick up one's ears — a puncture made by a needle, thorn, or the like.
- private prosecution — a prosecution started by a private individual rather than by the police
- privatization issue — an issue of shares available for purchase by members of the public when a publicly owned organization is transferred to the private sector
- procedural language — (language) Any programming language in which the programmer specifies an explicit sequences of steps to follow to produce a result (an algorithm). The term should not be confused with "imperative language" - a language that specifies explicit manipulation of state. An example (non-imperative) procedural language is LOGO, which specifies sequences of steps to perform but does not have an internal state. Other procedural languages include Basic, Pascal, C, and Modula-2. Both procedural and imperative languages are in contrast to declarative languages, in which the programmer specifies neither explicit steps nor explicit state manipulation.
- production platform — offshore power station
- profitability study — a study of how much profit a company, organization, etc, makes or how profitable it is
- progressive judaism — Reform Judaism.
- property speculator — a person who takes part in property speculation
- proto-indo-european — the unattested prehistoric parent language of the Indo-European languages; Indo-European.
- provably unsolvable — The set or property of problems for which no algorithm at all exists. E.g. the Halting Problem. See also provably difficult.
- pseudo-aristocratic — of or relating to government by an aristocracy.
- pseudo-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- pseudo-conservative — disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
- pseudo-experimental — pertaining to, derived from, or founded on experiment: an experimental science.
- pseudo-intransitive — denoting an occurrence of a normally transitive verb in which a direct object is not explicitly stated or forms the subject of the sentence, as in Margaret is cooking or these apples cook well
- pseudo-professional — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- pseudohermaphrodite — an individual having internal reproductive organs of one sex and external sexual characteristics resembling those of the other sex or being ambiguous in nature. Compare hermaphrodite (def 1).
- pseudorandom number — (programming) One of a sequence of numbers generated by some algorithm so as to have an even distribution over some range of values and minimal correlation between successive values. Pseudorandom numbers are used in simulation and encryption. They are pseudorandom not random because the sequence eventually repeats exactly and is entirely determined by the initial conditions. One of the simplest algorithms is x[i+1] = (a * x[i] + c) mod m but this repeats after at most m numbers and successive numbers are closely related. Better algorithms generally use more previous numbers to calculate the next number.
- puerperal psychosis — a mental disorder sometimes occurring in women after childbirth, characterized by deep depression, delusions of the child's death, and homicidal feelings towards the child
- pugwash conferences — international peace conferences of scientists held regularly to discuss world problems: Nobel peace prize 1995 awarded to Joseph Rotblat (1908–2005) , one of the founders of the conferences, secretary-general (1957–73), and president (1988–97)